Thursday, December 22, 2011

Yeah, that's right the tape! Every year I buy more tape (usually in a 3-pack) for wrapping presents, even though I still have at least 5 unopened rolls at home. For the past two years I have not bought any tape...and I still have 6 rolls (possibly more) floating around. So, I found a couple awesome things that I could use this tape for.

First up: Cat Eyes! I am a licensed, though not "practicing" cosmetologist...people used to pay me good money to do their makeup. I am ashamed to admit that I was never able to do a good cat eye on myself...until this life changing tutorial!

Wooot! I am ready to vamp it up, rawr. Now I will keep a roll of tape with my makeup. (I used Stila Smudge Pot liner in gray)

Second: Nail art! Though, I will admit that gift wrap tape can be hard to see on freshly polished nails, so next time I might try masking tape...I buy a lot of that and neon duct tape, too. Apparently my hoarding tendencies extend beyond yarn and nail polish!

See...my trees are a little wonky, since the tape was a little hard to see in my poorly lit living room at night....but, ooooooooh shiny (and bokeh)! Time for a roll of tape to go in with the nail polish! (I used Milani 3D Holographic lacquer in Cyberspace for the base color and Orly in Lucky Duck for the tree)

I hope you have some fun with tape....even if you are only wrapping presents ;D

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

So here is what else I included in my all handmade Christmas...blood sugar spikes for all!

Magic Cookie Bars, recipe here, omitted the nuts and made a thicker graham cracker crust. We have been making these every Christmas for as long as I can remember...ridiculously sweet, delicious and addictive!

Caramel Popcorn...amazing, and not as intimidating as I thought it would be!

Fleur de Sel Caramels...used this recipe; but instead of vanilla extract, I infused the cream with two vanilla beans. These are sooo good, I am such a salty/sweet lover! Luckily I had one pan that got horribly mangled during my first try at chocolate coating...so they got to stay with me!

Whew, I managed to get everything out in the mail yesterday and now have my fingers crossed that they will arrive on time! There still isn't time for me to relax...I just finished the rest of my gift shopping today...and I am still not finished with the man-sized sock knitting >_< I think I need to go eat some more caramels ;D

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Every year I say that I am not going to knit anything for the holidays, then without fail, two weeks before I must KNIT ALL THE THINGS! Of course this leads to about a week of me zoning out in front of the computer watching Netflix (Doctor Who this year, since I skipped straight to Matt Smith, I wanted to check out Drs. 9 and 10) with my tiny dpns knitting ornaments and such non-stop.

...being chased by a zombie Santa (why yes, that is a dismembered antler...I watch too much Walking Dead)!

Group shot! Those balls were the beginning of a yarn ball wreath, but I lost steam on that project. I made the big snowball and tree for my nephew. Also, note the crocheted flower! Even with my horrible skills, like chaining is hard for me, I managed these flowers! I kind of want to make myself something absurd with them...but first I will probably make some for my future niece who is scheduled to arrive in March :)

Monday, December 19, 2011

As my [insert winter holiday of choice] gift to you...I am going to post consistently all week! What a novel concept, huh? It isn't going to all be about knitting or design, but it will all be crafty!

I am kicking the week off with my Christmas manicure:

Yay, mistletoe! I am still deeply in love with nail stamping...so much so that I keep ordering stamping plates >_< The images I used were from the Bundle Monster set, plates BM219 and BM225. My nail polish/accessories stash is starting to catch up to my yarn stash...I might need a bigger house, heh.

And see...there is actual knitting in this photo! I made a bunch of these trees this year, sans trunk. They seemed to stand better with the wide base and I might have gotten a bit lazy towards the end ;)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

So the holidays and houseguests...that is my excuse this time ;) Anyway, I am popping to give you guys a look at Gamine...the whole thing, not just a little bit of cabling!

The pattern went out to testers today, so just a couple more weeks and it will be ready to go. I also had a bit of fun in Photoshop today...I haven't played with my actions in awhile. These shots all use Nelly Nero's "Vespa" action and a couple use her "Pump Me Up" action, too.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Sorry, for some reason I am too lazy to figure out a title! I am drawing an absolute blank and I do love a good ellipsis.

Anyway, I apologize for my absence, but I was busy. I got Zephyr off to my tech editor today, I knit and wrote/charted the 2-skein version of Ovate and...oh yeah...ran a marathon ;) I am not sure if Ovate or the marathon was tougher! It will probably be quite a long time before I do a non-repeating lace pattern again.

The 2-skein version did turn out really great and I am looking forward to snuggling up in it all winter long. Who knew two toggles on a crochet chain could create so many different options for wearing shawls?!

So by the end of the week, it is possible that both Zephyr and the 2-skein version of Ovate will be released! Now I am off to elevate my feet, but I may just get some WIP shots of Gamine first to share with you guys later this week. ♥

Friday, October 21, 2011

So I did promise a few peeks at what else has been going on in my knitting world. Super happy news...the rough draft of Zephyr is now with the tech editor! I thought I might go all Scanners there for awhile with all the convoluted math that I had going on. Let's hope it actually makes sense and that I won't have a ton of edits to do before it goes out for test knitting!

While working on it, I actually learned to do a lot more math with the help of Excel. I have been anti-Excel forever, just because I never had the patience to sit down and figure out formulas and whatnot. Since Zephyr was already taking forever...an extra day or two working in Excel was nothing. A big plus on that is I will have a nifty spreadsheet to include in the pattern with stitch counts by section and size to make it easier for those unfamiliar with the construction method to keep their place.

Yeah enough technical talk...here's the fun stuff!

This is Ellington. I looove the stitch pattern...I used it because it is great with variegated yarns such as this (madelinetosh 80/10/10 sport in Charred-grey). Also I am going to work up a stranded version in regular tosh sport (Coastal Hoodie leftovers). I had a modeled pic, but it looked kind of funky because I blocked the hat flat. So once I re-block it, I'll have more pics to show!

This is my awesome stockinette and Norwegian star manicure! This knitting image (plate M69) is the cause of my recent Konad obsession. Oh, that yarn...it is madelinetosh 80/10/10 worsted in Gossamer, such a hard color to capture accurately, but this comes pretty close. I am using it to make a cable and lace vest that I have been imagining for close to 2 years now. It is definitely time to get it out of the head, off the paper and into yarn!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Ovate is now available! The one-skein version is ready now and the 2-skein version is in progress. Purchase now at $1.50 off the full price and get the one-skein version now and the 2-skein version when it is released. Price will then increase to $5.50. Also, my fall promotion expires tonight at midnight...enter the code fallstockpile2011 in the "promo code" box and receive an additional 20% off the already discounted price!

I will get some updates on my current designs up in the next few days...right now I am still wrestling with Zephyr. It seems to be a Herculean task. Making a sweater look simple and artless is no easy endeavor...especially when writing it up in 8 sizes! I know it will be worth it, because it is such a great and timeless cardi.

Monday, October 10, 2011

So I have another design that is almost done, Ovate. This was inspired by a skein of Rasta I won in Eat.Sleep.Knit's Yarn Lotto. I hadn't worked with Rasta before, because I really wasn't sure what to do with it. I decided to approach it like I did Twist with my Belmondo Shawl...really big needles and lace!

The one-skein version of Ovate is in the final stages of testing and should be ready to go this week or next. It will be available as an "early-release" version at a discount, while I finish up the larger two-skein version. All "early-release" buyers will receive the larger version at no additional charge! I would normally wait until the whole pattern is ready to go, but I was actually inspired by my testers to add an additional size and I want to get those Junkies working on their October Stockpile projects a shot at this pattern before my October promotion is over.

Just in case you hadn't heard, all patterns and eBooks in my Ravelry store are 20% off through October 17, 2011...just enter the code fallstockpile2011 in the coupon code box at checkout! Caliper should be ready to go this week, too, and will be eligible for the discount as well!

(I think) I have finished all of the math for Zephyr. It is being offered in 8 sizes, ranging from 31.25" to 55.25." It was definitely a lot of math for my poor brain, now I just need to take all of those numbers and get them into a coherent set of instructions! I am hoping I can get it done within the next week or two, and out to my testers so I can release it sometime in November.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Zephyr is done, and I absolutely love it! I really enjoyed learning a new construction method (Contiguous) and can't wait to start (or more accurately, rip and restart) another contiguous sweater!

There is a definite learning curve that comes with doing anything new, of course raglans are easy for me now, but the first one certainly wasn't. And I hadn't a clue what adjustments to make to the fit on that first one. I already tried a few alterations on Zephyr, just based on recommendations from other contiguous knitters...back neck increases and I also tried a couple body and sleeve increases to curve the armscye a bit where it meets the body.

Hopefully I will have a bit of free time soon to really concentrate and get the pattern rolling on this. I had hoped to get going on it today, but I am not sure if I have the mental fortitude. Plus, Caliper is in the final stages of testing, so there are a lot of little edits that need to be done and hopefully I can get that off to my editor soon. I also have three other hat and winter accessory patterns and samples that I would like to get done so I can release them as an eBook in plenty of time for everyone's holiday knitting...but if the clamor for Zephyr continues, I may just have to put the eBook on the back burner for now.

Monday, September 26, 2011

I got the yarn for my Zephyr cardi and I really lucked out on that one! The skeins I bought from a friendly Raveler matched 3 of my 4. Unfortunately I still had to rip back an entire skeins worth, but it wasn't all bad since I had wanted to try altering the shaping slightly. It should be ready for a peek soon, just a sleeve and a half to go...and no finishing. After the Coastal Hoodie, I wanted something to be finished easily...no stitches to pick up, no pockets just sew on a few toggles and buttonloops then DONE!

Anyway, here is that look at my newest hat, Caliper. It comes in two versions: a worsted weight beanie and a DK weight scrunchy toque with a fun draw cord loop and toggle (the same toggles that will probably end up on Zephyr, heh). I am just finishing up the pattern now, hopefully it will be off to my testers in a few days :)

DK version.

Worsted version.

Currently I am trying to decide if I want to offer a hat eBook all at once, or release the patterns as they are ready and then create the eBook. Of course anyone that purchases one of the individual patterns before the eBook is released will get a discount off the whole kit n' kaboodle ;D

Oh, and I finally got a Lachesis and Co. facebook page (you can find the link in the upper right corner of this page)...it isn't really that exciting, I just post the blog updates there for now. Hopefully I will get something exciting going there soon!

Monday, September 12, 2011

After all of my rambling on last week about my wonderful rustic wool...I encountered an issue. My skeins looked pretty well matched so I didn't take the time to compare them in strong natural light. So as I was working in the second skein I noticed it was a bit lighter than the first...I am an old hat at alternating so I happily continued on.

Now the horrible part...I was adding the third skein when it finally hits me that the last 2 are quite a bit darker than the first 2. I was so mad at myself, because I could've probably blended them fine if I had taken the time before I started, but NOOOOOOO...not me! I like to make my life difficult.

Anyway, I was completely crushed...start over >_< ...start over in a different yarn :*( ....or search the stashes in rav :) Oh yeah, I was so lucky to find a wonderful person that had the same color in their stash and was willing to sell me a couple skeins! I ♥ Ravelry!

The yarn should arrive tomorrow and I am hoping that it will either be closer to my lighter skein or be in between the 2 shades so I won't have to rip a lot. Said sweater has both RS and WS 2 stitch twists...not the most fun to rip and redo! Fingers crossed!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Here I am, back again so soon! I just wanted to share a few things that are making me so incredibly happy lately!

1. All the Coastal Hoodie WIPs! I adore going through and looking at all of the wonderful color combinations. It is taking all of my self control not to go through and favorite and comment multiple times on everyone's project. I don't want to scare anyone, but I am stalking and admiring all of your lovely projects. This happened too:

It only stayed at #5 for a few hours, but out of all the patterns and amazingly talented designers on Ravelry, I was in awe. And...I squeed, loud enough that the dogs ran and hid in the other room.

2. Wooly wool. I have been working with a lot of superwash and silk blends lately, so I am psyched to have some really rustic, domestically sourced (and spun!) wool back on the needles. Here is the yarn (no WIP pics yet!):

This is Imperial Stock Ranch's Erin hand-dyed by Madelinetosh. Really lovely stuff with super subtle color variations and wait til you see the stitch definition! I have already separated the sleeves on my prototype sweater in this yarn so I will try to grab some shots soon.

3. Books. I am making myself read more, as knitting and spinning and dyeing and running have taken over every second of free time that I have! So now I am trying to read for at least 45 minutes to an hour everyday. I am starting with Harry Potter, because I started a few times, but then the movies were coming out and well...it was easier to watch than read >_< I also got the new MochiMochi book, abso-freaking-lutely ADORABLE!!! Maybe I should make time to make a teeny-tiny everyday, too!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Hey kiddos! I am so sorry that I continue to be horrible about keeping y'all updated. Notice how I try to butter you guys up with a little southern drawl ♥ of course it is finished with that lingering touch of Jersey accent I still have after all these years ;) But...I have been busy! I present Bubbles and Baubles:

This was an amazing experience for me. I came up with the idea of this shawl over a year ago and was just waiting for my brain to be able to execute it. Lots of math (or maths as the Brits say) and lots of charting, sketches and my extra large graph paper tablet helped bring it to life. Of course, not taking the easy way out, the entire shawl is beaded...and yes, that is a looped picot edging!

Enjoy my lovlies and I promise to try to provide more regular updates! I am currently working on a mess of magazine submissions, a contiguous cardi and another eBook (or two)! Oh yeah, I am still marathon training too, so I hope that will be enough to earn your forgiveness...xoxo.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

I am just popping in quickly to let you know that my Coastal Hoodie pattern is now available for pre-order! It is in the final editing stages and will be released at the full price of $6.50 August 16th. Until August 15th at 10pm edt it can be pre-ordered for just $4! You'll receive a preview pdf with the materials list, stripe pattern, notes and the schematic. Then one the 16th, you'll receive the full pattern :)

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Hello my lovely readers! I hope I haven't lost you all with my extended absence! Things have been quite busy with coaching close to 100 marathon trainees, not to mention marathon training myself. Plus I was just a tiny bit burnt out after the last eBook, I wanted a little time to not worry about knitting deadlines. I learned how to spin with a drop spindle, too!

Anyway, after months of fits and starts and redesigns...my Coastal Hoodie is complete and I am in love! I wish it wasn't 100 degrees out so I could wear it all the time. This sweater is a top down, reverse stockinette raglan with a nice roomy hood, pockets (i ♥ pockets) and turned hems/bands with a contrasting facing.

I am trying out a new testing/editing model for this pattern. My editor and I are doing a really thorough editing first, then doing a quick "test" with some knitters to make sure the pattern is easy to follow and then if all goes well it will be ready to release. They'll be reading through and starting the pattern looking for the less tangible things that don't always get caught on the technical side. Like readability and clarity, is there a better way to word it for the average knitter.

Many self-published patterns by indie designers are briefly edited to make sure nothing is glaringly wrong, then test knit to completion to check the numbers (or just test knit without the initial edit for "simpler" patterns), etc and then edited again. This model works well for accessories, but adds at least a month to the editing time on a garment pattern. I have to admit that I am so excited about this pattern and the interest in it so far that I think I would burst if I had to wait a month before publishing!

Publications (books and magazines) often leave out the test knitting step and thoroughly tech edit to get their product out in a timely manner. So I figured it would be interesting to try especially due to the ease of editing and grading a top down raglan. Fingers crossed that all goes well...and if it does, the Coastal Hoodie pattern could be available for download quite soon!

Monday, June 13, 2011

I am still taking my sweet time on those Coastal Hoodie sleeves! Luckily I did manage to get one done last night...including all of the ends woven in. It was definitely a pain, but I really love the stripes and the reverse stockinette and there were no easy shortcuts. As soon as I finish this post, it is back to the mines for me.

So I have been dyeing more yarn while avoiding the sleeves. This time I used the leftovers from "B♥MB." I had poured the leftover dye into a mason jar, since after sprinkling the dye powder over the yarn and then spraying it with water there was quite a bit leftover...about 700mL. I used 200gm of Soft Silk yarn, a single ply 50/50 silk/merino blend. For this dye job I used an immersion technique, also called kettle dyeing...my old 10qt turkey roaster came in handy for this.

I filled the roaster most of the way with water and added the leftover dye then turned on the heat. Once it was steaming, after about 20 min, I added the citric acid. It was already looking pretty neat, since the gray and black dyes took up much quicker that the fuchsia. After the dye bath was exhausted, the yarn was pink with some grayish areas.

I decided to darken it up a bit since I already had a commercial yarn that was pretty close in color and texture (Malabrigo Silky Merino in Madre Perla). I used a mixture of blue and purple to deepen the current color and since the water was already hot and acidic...it struck quickly and a little mottled. That was exactly what I was hoping for! Here are some shots of the yarn:

After the leftover dye was exhausted...before the blue/purple overdye.

Monday, June 6, 2011

My poor hoodie, the sleeves are still not complete! At least I have finally made it past the elbow on one...progress is progress. Of course I am not helping matters (nor is marathon coaching and training). The past week or so, I have been doing everything I could to avoid working on those sleeves, such as:

I tried out the (♥AMAZING♥) Contiguous sleeve method on a new sweater. Really, you should check this out! It is like top down set in sleeves with the ease of a raglan...here's the Ravelry group with tons of info from the originator of the method.

I made twelve pounds of soap, then went on an ordering binge to restock my soap supplies so I can make more soap. Then I trawled around the soap making forums I used to hang around for more soap making ideas and projects. Here's the soap:
Definitely not as pretty as I used to be able to make, but I haven't soaped in over a year...and I decided to try a new coloring method. Not my best idea.

Finally, I broke out the dyes again! I did end up getting the Kindle version of Hand Dying Yarn and Fleece by Gail Callahan and I also downloaded the "Gorgeous Hand Dyed Yarn at Home," pdf from Three Irish Girls (I did get the gradient one, too and I do not recommend it...the method is super complicated and time consuming). Both had good tips and featured slightly different methods, but also had a lot of information that I had already gathered online. It is nice though to have the information neat and in either a pdf or in my Kindle app...especially when my interwebs get funky (which is weekly, thanks Comcast).

I did some handpainting, which came out kind of awful, it was my fault for getting a bit overzealous with the acid. Then I tried to do a quick glaze; throwing it into hot, acidy water with a smidge of a darker color to tone it down...I think that just made matters worse. So today we won't be seeing any pictures of that poor skein ;) Hopefully an overdye in a completely different color will save it.

Happily I did have a success yesterday! I used this method of dying...so much fun! I went for a little more order when sprinkling my dye powders...I used a .5 gm scoop of Jacquard Hot Fuchsia for one end of the skeins, then 4 - .5 gm scoops of Jacquard Silver Gray for the middles and a .5 gm scoop of Greener Shades Midnight Black for the other ends. In hindsight I could've used about half of the gray, but I am still in love with this method and the results. Unfortunately, I was having to much fun during, so I forgot to take in progress pics, but here is the finished yarn:

I am calling it "B♥MB," since it is kind of like a crazy fluorescent explosion!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I am currently bogged down in the sleeves of the striped-hoodie-in-progress (tentatively titled "coastal hoodie"). I wish I didn't have such a penchant for long sleeves, but everytime I have knit an elbow length or 3/4 length sleeve sweater I end up not wearing it and wishing for long sleeves. The kind of sleeves that will completely cover your hands and that you have to roll back multiple times when doing anything messy. So, it really figures that I hate knitting sleeves, but the extra frustration is worth it for a sweater I will LOVE! Yeah, I admit that I am posting right now just to get away from those sleeves ;)

I wanted give you guys a little peek at the humble beginnings of my eBook, Myths and Fairytales. These are the original sketches (and names) that I put together for the book "proposal." I loved looking back at them after the book was released to see how much some changed and how much others stayed the same. Some designs had to change to work with the pattern repeats, or I found a way that I liked better after swatching.

Next up, Elisa, which underwent quite a major design change, from an extreme crescent to a shallow triangle:

Then, Daphnaie, which got a name change and I changed up the center panel, too:

Here is The Mermaid's Gift, I actually just ripped out the original sample the other day. The prototype was more than 75% complete when I decided to try the lattice/mesh patterns instead of the eyelets in the sketch...luckily I had an extra skein of the lace, so I didn't have to rip in case my second incarnation went wrong (which it totally didn't!):

Kisseis was a battle from the beginning! The transition from a triangle to a crescent helped immensely, but I swatched every possible diamond pattern I could think of and added, then subtracted stitches. Nothing was working and I was too stubborn for a long time to admit it! Once I figured out that I should take a break and think about what I was doing, instead of trying to fit that square peg in the round hole...it worked beautifully!

Finally, Amalthea, which actually is pretty much exactly as sketched, I just nixed the bead idea....though I am thinking of knitting one up with some beads.

I hope you enjoyed a look back to the infancy of the eBook! If you have a chance, pop over to PeacefullyKnitting's blog, where Daphnaie is the featured pattern and you can enter for a chance to win a copy of Myths and Fairytales!